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A car traveling at 60 mph has how much more energy than a car going at 20 mph?

1 Answer

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The car's kinetic energy is

KE = (1/2) (mass) (speed)² .

We notice that the speed is squared in the formula for KE,
so the KE varies as the square of the speed.

If the speed changes from 20mph to 60mph, it has tripled.
So the KE increases by a factor of (3²) = 9 times the original KE.
User Pradeep Hebbar
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